International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume VI, Issue IX, September 2022|ISSN 2454-6186
M.W. Mutiga*, M.M. Mutuku, A. Olubandwa, and L.N. Kinuthia
Department of Applied Community Development Studies, Egerton University, P.O. Box 536-20115, Egerton, Kenya.
*Corresponding Author
Abstract: Adoption of Sustainable Development Goal number one (1) by 193 member states in New York was aimed at eradicating poverty. This prompted different development actors and agencies to work together. Non-governmental organizations are one of the key development actors through support of various interventions in different sectors such as agriculture, health, gender, family planning, environment and education. However, education support is one of the main strategies used to transform social-economic status of communities. Non-governmental organizations support character-building education with the aim of equipping community members with moral values and virtues that enable them live and function well in society. Non-governmental organizations have been supporting education interventions with the aim of empowering communities, However, they have been measuring the success of character-building interventions using indicators of individual empowerment, as a result the influence on community empowerment is not known. Hence, the study sought to explore the influence of non-governmental organizations’ education character-building interventions on community empowerment in Nakuru County, Kenya. The research design adopted was ex-post facto research design and correlational research design. The study sample size was 114, which comprised of social workers and beneficiaries of those education programs. Stratified random sampling and purposive sampling were used. Data was collected using questionnaires and analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation and linear regression analysis). Character-building construct was measured in two parameters: social skills and ethical skills. The parameters of community empowerment were social capital, human capital and financial capital development. The F statistic was 17.749, with a corresponding p-value of 0.000, meaning that the education character-building interventions supported by non-governmental organizations significant influence on community empowerment. The study recommends that all non-governmental organizations supporting education interventions as one the strategies for community empowerment need to include character-building education, in order to achieve community empowerment.
Keywords: Non-governmental organizations, education, character-building education interventions, influence, community empowerment
I. INTRODUCTION
I.1. Background Information
Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is a global challenge which prompted different states and